There are strong rumours here in Hong Kong that Pointbet (one of the biggest Asian firms) have gone underground. Websites have disappeared and there are complaints from clients about non-payment of winnings.
Pointbet were unusual in that they offered a legal entity for traders - the vast majority of Asian operators work on the move as they dodge the authorities that trail them throughout the Far East. One such firm was 3starbet.com that repeatedly reinvented themselves as bet3star.com and starbet3.com etc etc!
A key aspect to be addressed when opening an account with a broker/ market-maker is the payment issue. As gambling winnings are unenforceable under law, one needs to assess companies on the available information. Have they a physical address? Are there any web postings concerning poor payment practices? What does psychological profiling of the key individuals reveal? In which territory is the businesses head office?
One can never be totally assured of payment however. The strategy of our Trading Team is to never allow any operator to owe us much money. We constantly hassle and make an annoyance of ourselves. We exhibit loyalty to all our business links but we build in to our financial projections a proviso that the final payment will not be made.
This isn't just a problem in Asia and in the offshore environments. One of my personal brokers historically was Tony Bloom (the founder of Premierbet). He always claimed to be happy with winning accounts but once I was trading at levels above £20K per weekend, payment ceased. He still owes me several thousand quid.
It's almost worth learning poker (Bloom plays professionally) to take my money back off the guttersnipe. Almost...
